LATROBE -- Around 2:55 p.m. about a dozen Steelers defensive backs stood behind a play as the team went through pre-practice walkthroughs. One man, in a too-small, too-light shade of yellow No. 43 jersey, joined them.

"Man, shoot, he was right with us!" safety Jordan Dangerfield said. "He was standing right next to us."

He had walked through the rope behind Field No. 4 at St. Vincent College, come down the small hill overlooking the field and stood in with the secondary players, trying to blend in.

This lasted about a minute.

"I'm here, I'm here," the man said to the Steelers Dangerfield said. The practice imposter told them not to point him out to team staff.

"First of all, had 43 on. You know we don't give No. 43 out, one," Dangerfield said. "And the jersey was too light, you know what I'm saying? So I knew it was a phony person."

He and his teammates would laugh about his presence soon after, and when practice was finished, but not then.

Dangerfield called over conditioning coordinator Garrett Giemont, who walked the faux No. 43 to the sideline, Dangerfield said. The man cooperated. Then security removed him from the fields.

"It could've been dangerous, you know, that's what I was worried about," Dangerfield said. "I wasn't worried about him being funny, but you think about the worst-case scenario in that situation."